The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Bangbang on June 08, 2012, 10:39:35 pm
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As a teenager I played the guitar badly....30 years on I've started to play it again.
Does anyone else play an instrument and enjoy the relaxation that I find it gives?
My OH tends to confine me to quarters outwith her range of hearing....which is understandable...
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From 7 to 14 I played the violin. You know how it is hitting teen age ??? Gave it up to peruse boys and motorsport. Achieved top grades too. ( gloat)
Had teachers and county orchestra were up in arms and many meetings with my parents about my skills ? And potential. My parents were in the mind that if I'd had enough then it was my choice. I thanked them then. Now looking back I wish I wish I had persued it, but that's life I suppose.
Elder son, now ten, didn't want to play violin when his class were given the opportunity, so I sent a letter as I've been there and you need to want to do it. He was six at the time. Since then he has learned the clarinet and drums and loves them.
I still yearn to go back to the violin. Perhaps one day ;D
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I was taught piano up to grade 6 by my choirmaster but his extracurricular interests finally got him jailed some years too late. Enough said, maybe too much.
I love music and hope for a piano for my 60th in a while, probably in one of the stables to annoy the horses more than my tone deaf OH. Eldest showed talent with the clarinet but I couldn't make him continue could I?
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I am learning the cornet with my local silver band. My 12 year old son is also learning and has just passed grade 2 with a distinction! My 10 year old daughter is learning piano and is preparing for her grade 2 exam in a couple of weeks time. My youngest son and daughter have just started to learn the trombone and the baritone with the silver band. My OH is trying to teach himself drums. He did start guitar but his carpal tunnel syndrome has stopped that temporarily.
I really wanted to learn an instrument when I was a kid but my dad was too tight to pay for lessons. That's why I'm giving all my lot the opportunity now ;)
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I have been known to wander blindly up and down the fretboard of a guitar. Mostly I play acoustic; folk and bluegrass/oldtimey kinda stuff.
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My husband plays guitar - he is a Rory Gallagher tribute artist and so blues are his thing, I guess.
He's moved onto making his own resonator guitars and restoring neglected ones that he buys, does-up and then sells on.
I was forced into playing the piano at a young age because my Dad used to and I hate to say it but I think that made my stubborn streak come out and make me 'hate' the idea of learning when it was something I hadn't chosen ::) Two of my daughters are learning the flute, which they love and I think sounds beautiful! The other night, my 10 year old picked up her Dad's guitar at a gig and strummed some chords for "sunshine of your love" to an audience - that was cool :)
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Fiddle, viola, piano, guitar not especially well, all sizes of recorder, clarinet a bit.
Trouble is, what with a full time job and all the animals, I never have time to practise.
Mainly now I sing in a choir, cos that I can practise while I'm doing the animals or driving to work :D
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I was forced, sorry encouraged to play the clarinet as a kid - not too bad but certainally not a natural! Always wanted to play saxaphone, so o/h bought me one before we were married.... It's soooo hard to play!!
I can read music etc & love the drums but have no natural rhythm!
Husband is a professional music teacher & can play by ear (me, jealous? not at all!)
He tried to teach me two-handed Piano once.... least said the better!
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Guitars and Uke's for me - although since breaking my left hand index finger (by smashing it with the back of an axe splitting wood- coulda bin worse! :innocent: ) its not sounding so good!!! ;D Learnt classical between 12 and 14 and am really grateful that parents found me that oportunity when I showed an interest. I'm pretty rubbish but I enjoy it!!
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I played piano and violin as a child but my parents did not encourage me to practice, in fact quite the opposite so my early talent was not nurtured. I still love to sing, have dabbled with the guitar and would love to play the cello. But my current pleasure is my accordian that I bought from ebay. I just love the sound of it and so does my jack russel. Might try it on the horses next.
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My father was a musician and after my brother and I had moved out the house was taken over by him, first step being the construction of a harpsichord in the drawing room. It took nearly two years and mum never regained control of the room.
I got to Grade 7 cello but never liked it and haven't played since. So why has it followed me around for 40 years?
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Fiddle and pipes for me, my children play fiddle, flute, piano, mandolin and guitar.
Did you know that James Galway's mother used to lock him in his bedroom and make him practise, bet he thanks her for it now ;D
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I played the flute not very well, all my friends were very very musical and I got discouraged when I showed my BF her first notes on the flute and within half a term she was much better than me....:-(
Now I sing in a choir, theres only 15ish of us, and we have sung at castles and singing festivals etc. Mostly enjoying it altho I prefer the minor key choral dirges to the jazz hands type numbers...!
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I played the piano from an early age, and did all the grades to teaching diploma. However after years of not playing due to not having a piano in the house, Ive probably forgotten more than I learnt. I now have my childhood piano which came to me after my parents passed away. The trouble is, Im so very shy about playing it because I have got so bad. My husband would love to hear me play, and Im itching to get back to playing, but I wont unless he is out of the house.
I think it harps back to when I was very young, and my parents making me play for my aunts uncles and grandparents when they came to visit. I dreaded it and got very upset at having to do it as I had no confidence, even though I actually was very musical.
I also played the oboe for several years, and the violin for a very short time.(Horrible!)
I also sing, and used to sing with a fantastic choir that did concerts all over the country, even in the Purcell room in London! Funnily enough, our choirmaster is in prison now. He always was very touchy feely!!
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I used to play the piano when I was young, and the recorder... And dabbled a bit with guitar and mandolin (my mother was very good at that). Carpal tunnel syndrome meant I had to pause more often than I would have liked to; and when I left home at 19, I had no piano to practise. In the past 12 years I've tried to revive my piano playing (bought an electric one), but it's just so frustrating when you know what it's supposed to sound like, but the fingers just won't do it - and then I always end up living in freezing cold houses, and it's impossible to play with fingers that are frozen stiff... Still dream of getting a tenor recorder one of these days. And I'd love to sing in a choir again, but preferably not a church one, and there aren't many of them around. Tried to contact one in Stonehaven, but they never replied, so I suppose it doesn't exist any more. :(
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Piano but by ear, cannot read a note. Most of my fathers family play or sing but I sound like nothing on this earth.
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I learnt to play guitar after the car smash , my fingers were all going wrong due to smashing my right hand , so thought it a good way to get my hand working .
It worked , but due to head injury and short term memory loss ,after a period of not playing , i found i had forgotten everything .
I used to be able to sing quite well , in the same range as Frankie Vallie , 7 octaves i think ?
I could go from a very low Paul Robeson impersonation , to a bang on one of Sahra Brightman . That would freak people out !
But i garroted myself on the steering wheel in the smash , and had almost no voice after .
It did sort of come back after a year or so , but only for talking .
Can still do a reasonable Don Estelle and Windsor Davies version of wispering grass sometimes , but can't remember lyrics !
Most of the time music just mixes up in my head now , just all jumbles up into a noise , so don't listen to it much .
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I'm learning to play the piano along with my kids who are about to sit grade 1. I love it and find I can get totally lost in focus, great for doing something else for a while beside attending to my incredibly hectic life, feels like meditation.
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You have a cello small farmer!!!!
Do you want to swap it for anything I might have?????
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I always wanted to learn the piano as a child but never had the opportunity. Now, at the age of 61, I have been learning for the last 18 months and I love it. Did start learning bagpipes when I lived on Arran but have no one to teach me now although I still have my chanter. Also had a go at guitar but gave up. I used to sing until my throat started giving me trouble after a chest infection and I lost the ability. Three years on and it's coming back, more some days than others. Maybe one day it'll return properly. HOpe so.
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I always wanted to learn the piano as a child but never had the opportunity. Now, at the age of 61, I have been learning for the last 18 months and I love it.
OOOOHhhhhhhh! And I thought I'd left it too late...
Never played as a child - one of only two major mistakes my parents made, IMO, disallowing musical instrument tuition because it conflicted with academic lessons; always wanted to, even bought a piano and carted it around the country for 18 years; it's now the village piano in Luxborough in Exmoor (at least, I hope it still is!) and I thought it was now waaaaayyyy too late to even think about trying to learn.
However, I maybe don't have the aptitude. I sure can appreciate music when I hear it but, although I showed promise on the recorder as an infant (but then swapped schools to one that didn't have a teacher who promoted the recorder), I haven't ever, IMO, shown any real capability. I own a lovely Fender F90 guitar but it's on loan to someone I have all but lost track of, I tried so hard but couldn't ever reproduce any of the picks or strums my friends seemed to find so easy.
I love to sing but am as likely to be flat as not; BH is one of the few singers I know worse than me. At funerals and weddings we love to belt out the hymns; BH will sing his own personal variant of the words, usually finishes every line ahead of the organ, and will catch the odd correct note in passing. I valiantly try to give him the beat, the words and the tune, but in truth am hardly any better. You can always find us in the congregation - the folks around us will be chewing handkerchieves, pulling hats down hard over their ears, crying and not with sorrow at the sadness of a friend's passing, shoulders, hands and hymn books shaking...
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I play the Sax-mad about Jazz,blues & soul,some Clarinet,a little trumpet/Cornet but not much,I am quite potty regards saxophones,I have four Tenors and something silly like 18 Alto's,plus a few other instruments around.I was starting an e-commerce shop but it shall have to wait a while until things are better on the home front. :-\
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guitar, bodhran and soon to be ( for my shhhh 40th bday) hammer dulcimer!
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A what ??? Please explain.
( oh and that'll be 21-and-a-bit birthday ;) )
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Hammered Dulcimer - Scott Williams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YLhj0RXUig#)
:thumbsup:
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Wow, I find that really relaxing. Good luck with it. :thumbsup:
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You have a cello small farmer!!!!
Do you want to swap it for anything I might have? ??? ?
It's complicated emotionally
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Im so very shy about playing it because I have got so bad. My husband would love to hear me play, and Im itching to get back to playing, but I wont unless he is out of the house.
What I've decided, and am doing my level best to act upon, is that this sort of embarrassment, that stops us doing what we want, is a waste of our one life.
I know what you mean and I wouldn't now perform for anyone, but as for playing in the house, my ex used to just accept I'd got rusty and was happy that I was playing and enjoying it. You'll be better than your hubby I expect and if not, then he understands. Go for it :-*
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Wise words Jaykay - PLAY/WHISTLE/SING LIKE THERE'S NO ONE LISTENING EVERYONE!!!! :innocent: . We could have a TAS band! HAs anyone heard of the really terrible orchestra? Strangely entertaining and inspiring! http://thereallyterribleorchestra.com/pressNickalls.html (http://thereallyterribleorchestra.com/pressNickalls.html)
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Which is exactly why BH and I do sing out at weddings, funerals, etc.
I found it completely liberating, after divorce, redundancy and turning 45, to decide that the only arbiter of anything I did should be me, and that if I enjoyed it then that was reason enough for doing it. Echoes of the teachers who told me I couldn't draw / paint faded as I discovered a love of charcoal and watercolour (not together :D) - and strangely, voices from the past praising the odd thing I'd drawn or painted then re-surfaced. Equally, I sing when and where I like, ignoring signs of embarassment (or even pain!) around me, dance if I feel like it, and don't shy away from swinging a bat or racquet at a ball if the opportunity arises. Oh, and I took up cross country running for pleasure at 47, having always been told I ran like a goose. :)
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I'm a bit like RUSTYME. A car accident spoilt my singing voice when a vocal chord stopped working. The chord is ok now but the voice has never been the same.
I would love to learn to play the piano and my sister who was 60 in March has just passed her first piano exam so there is hope for me yet as I am 2 years younger.
My main worry is buying a piano (cost and finding somewhere to put it) and then not taking to it.
Sally
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I play lots of things a bit but nothing particularly well. I have dabbled with the piano (can play the maple leaf rag), played the bugle and cornet for years in a marching band, button melodeon, penny whistle and banjo.
Music should be fun! My mother is a piano teacher and I spent much if my childhood sitting listening to her pupils grinding out all the usual favourites (which means I know hate The Snowman, Memory from Cats, and Fur Elise with a passion!) and wathced kids with no talent being made by their parent to practise exam peices for months on end just to get a certificate. It was enough to drain the will to live from a child and certainly to remove any enthusiam for music.
So many children have music lessons and then give up in their teens, never to play an instrument again. That is so sad.
All three of my kids play insturments - and not one of them has ever felt the need to take an exam. They play and learn because they enjoy it. I hope they will continue to do so.My son is an accomplished folk fiddler and plays with a large folk goup of, mainly adults. It is very gratifying to see him and all the others in the group, enjoying themselves so much y glerorfa yn y Bala (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI1-yvOdMi0#)
It is what it is all about!
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VSS, what an interesting bunch. They sound lovely too.
Sally
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That was really great, I hope my kids end up doing something interesting like that, I do try to open them up to all sorts of things creative. I teach at university and it's one of the first things I tell the students - if you play an instrument then join the orchestra or get a band together - its always a great thing for escapism, they need something else besides their coursework and music is often very helpful.
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Gabi plays the piano and has a guitar for it's decorative effect in her library. :-J
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haha my guitars a bit like that....
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My main worry is buying a piano (cost and finding somewhere to put it) and then not taking to it.
Sally
Sally, get yourself a cheapo electric keyboard for a start. I've just been given one for free from somebody who started with it and has now upgraded to a real piano... That way he didn't have the expense while he was starting out, and now I have something to get started with again. And hopefully, some day, I'll have a proper one, too. (I did have a larger electric piano a few years ago, which I couldn't take with me at some point when I moved house, and passed on to somebody else, who then passed it on... There seems to be a constant recycling and upgrading of pianos going on! Try freecycle!)
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Thanks Ina,
I am a member of the local freecycle I will keep my eyes open and perhaps post a wanted add if I can sort out a space.
Sally
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Sounds like a good plan :thumbsup:
I bought myself a Yamaha Clavinova in the end (some time ago, when I still had money ::)) Takes up a lot less space than a proper piano, was cheaper but importantly, the keys have 'piano action' so is pleasant to play.
Now if only I had time........
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A friend gave me a guitar and of course it stood in the corner for ages, Tried to learn from books but in the end did an internet course (Jam Play). Now at the age of 62 I'm as blue as can be, its taken me ages though and I'll need a long life to get good.
Alan
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And you're enjoying yourself in the process - what could be better :thumbsup:
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. Now at the age of 62 I'm as blue as can be
Alan
:thumbsup:
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Now if only I had time........
They never offer that on freecycle, do they! :D
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Definately give freecycle a go - I got my daughter's flute from Freecycle.
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You're never too old. I'm not interested in taking exams or getting qualifications. I just want to be able to knock out a tune and now I can. I paid (well, TBH OH paid £60 for my piano. It's absolutely ancient but it works. I've never had it tuned, desite moving it from where I bought it home and when we moved house. It's slightly out but not much and I can't tell the difference anyway.